# Les Visiteurs

**Les Visiteurs** (English: *The Visitors*) is a 1993 French fantasy comedy directed by Jean-Marie Poiré, in which a 12th-century knight and his squire are accidentally transported to contemporary France by a wizard's flawed potion. Written by Poiré and Christian Clavier, it stars Clavier as Jacquouille la Fripouille, Jean Reno as Godefroy de Montmirail, and Valérie Lemercier in a double role. With 13.7 million admissions in France, it became one of the most successful French films ever released and spawned a sequel, an American remake, and a third installment.<sup>[1](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/the-visitors)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 27 January 1993 (France); 106 minutes; comedy with fantasy and time-travel elements<sup>[1](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/the-visitors)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/80124)</sup> |
| Director and writers | Jean-Marie Poiré; screenplay and dialogue by Poiré and Christian Clavier, from an original idea by Poiré<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup> |
| Main cast | Christian Clavier (Jacquouille la Fripouille), Jean Reno (Godefroy de Papincourt, Count of Montmirail), Valérie Lemercier (Frénégonde / Béatrice)<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup> |
| French box office | 13,728,242 admissions at the end of its first run; second-biggest French film behind *La Grande Vadrouille*<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/secrets-tournage/)</sup> |
| Awards | One César from nine nominations at the 1994 ceremony: Best Supporting Actress for Valérie Lemercier<sup>[5](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/les-visiteurs/-30922/)</sup> |
| Music | Original score by Eric Lévi<sup>[1](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/the-visitors)</sup> |
| Franchise | Sequel *Les Visiteurs 2: Les Couloirs du temps* (1998, over 8 million admissions); American remake *Just Visiting* (2001); third film *Les Visiteurs: La Révolution* (2016)<sup>[6](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/just_visiting)</sup> |

## Spoilers

### Plot and characters

The story opens in the year 1123. Count Godefroy de Montmirail, a 12th-century nobleman returning from foreign wars, falls under a witch's curse and, hallucinating, mistakes his future father-in-law for a bear and kills him with an arrow.<sup>[8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/les-visiteurs)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D5241.html)</sup> To undo the fatal act, he and his squire Jacquouille la Fripouille drink a potion prepared by the wizard Eusæbius that is meant to send Godefroy back in time a few moments. Instead, the pair are hurled forward to the year 1992.<sup>[9](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D5241.html)</sup>

In the present, the two medieval visitors find that Godefroy's castle has become an upmarket château-restaurant owned by Jacques-Henri Jacquart, a descendant of Jacquouille, while Béatrice, Godefroy's distant descendant, lives in a small house nearby and is also played by Valérie Lemercier, who appears as both Béatrice and her medieval ancestor Frénégonde de Pouille.<sup>[8](https://www.timeout.com/movies/les-visiteurs)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D5241.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[24](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/55/109/159031/presse/les-visiteurs-la-revolution-dossier-de-presse-francais.pdf)</sup> The comedy rests on the pair's fish-out-of-water predicament: they must cope with a baffling modern century, try to communicate in old French with the locals, and find a way home.<sup>[1](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/the-visitors)</sup> Marie-Anne Chazel plays Ginette, a homeless woman, and the supporting cast includes Christian Bujeau, Isabelle Nanty, Didier Pain as King Louis VI, and Pierre Vial as the wizard.<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup>

### Sequels

Poiré had conceived a second installment while writing the first film, but the financiers, already uneasy about the subject, declined to commit to it at the time.<sup>[6](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)</sup> *Les Visiteurs 2: Les Couloirs du temps* was eventually released in 1998 with a spectacle-scale budget and elaborate gag set pieces, but without Valérie Lemercier. It drew more than 8 million admissions and was the second-biggest French success of its year, edged out at the finish by *Le Dîner de Cons*.<sup>[6](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)</sup> A third film, *Les Visiteurs: La Révolution*, followed in 2016, reuniting Clavier and Reno with new cast members including Franck Dubosc, Sylvie Testud, Alex Lutz, and Karin Viard; it was poorly received by critics, with an AlloCiné press average of 2.0 out of 5.<sup>[20](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-221713/critiques/presse/)</sup>

## Origins of the project

The idea predates the film by decades. As a high-school student, Jean-Marie Poiré wrote a four-page short story in a notebook; years later, during a move in 1990, he rediscovered it and submitted the idea to his friend and co-author Christian Clavier. The two then developed the structure into the story of two medieval men stranded in the present.<sup>[10](https://leclaireur.fnac.com/article/609562-les-visiteurs-3-choses-a-savoir-sur-le-film-avec-christian-clavier/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/secrets-tournage/)</sup>

**A risky pitch.** Poiré's previous comedy, *L'Opération Corned-beef* (1991), had succeeded largely on the strength of its cast of Clavier, Reno, and Lemercier, and the same trio reunited for *Les Visiteurs* two years later.<sup>[10](https://leclaireur.fnac.com/article/609562-les-visiteurs-3-choses-a-savoir-sur-le-film-avec-christian-clavier/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/secrets-tournage/)</sup> On the strength of that success, Poiré persuaded Gaumont to back a more ambitious film, a fantasy with visual effects and characters from the Middle Ages speaking old French. Poiré's own account describes it as a risky project that only he and Clavier believed in, which became an extraordinary triumph.<sup>[6](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)</sup> The film was produced by Alain Terzian through Alter Films, in co-production with Gaumont, France 3 Cinéma, Clavier's Alpilles Productions, and Poiré's Amigo Productions.<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup>

## Box office and reception

The film was a historic commercial success. By July 1993 *Le Monde* reported more than two million admissions in the Paris region and 8,709,411 entries in the 416 French screens then showing it, a pace unmatched in France since *Trois hommes et un couffin* in 1985.<sup>[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1993/07/02/cinema-le-triomphe-des-visiteurs_3945739_1819218.html)</sup> It finished its first theatrical run with 13,728,242 admissions, a figure later revised downward by about 100,000 in a 2008 re-evaluation of CNC data, and it ranked second among French films behind only *La Grande Vadrouille* (1966), which had drawn 17.2 million.<sup>[2](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[12](https://voyage-en-liberte.fr/boxoffice/Visiteurs.php)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/secrets-tournage/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[11](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1993/07/02/cinema-le-triomphe-des-visiteurs_3945739_1819218.html)</sup> A French Senate report credited the film with drawing nearly 14 million spectators, placing it seventh among all films released in France since 1956 by cumulative admissions.<sup>[13](https://www.senat.fr/rap/1994-1995/i1994_1995_0080_02.pdf)</sup>

Critical response was more reserved than the public's. AlloCiné's press aggregate gives the film an average of 3.2 out of 5 across five reviews; *Cahiers du Cinéma* judged that the film met the challenge of its premise despite some miscalibrations, while *Télérama* found it pleasant but disposable.<sup>[14](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/critiques/presse/)</sup> At the 1994 César ceremony the film received nine nominations, including Best Film and Best Director, and won one award, Best Supporting Actress for Valérie Lemercier's double performance.<sup>[5](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/les-visiteurs/-30922/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D5241.html)</sup> On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.0/10 from about 42,000 users.<sup>[15](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0108500/ratings/)</sup>

## International release and remake

The film traveled well abroad. Miramax released it in the United States on July 12, 1996, where it earned $659,810; [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks) was hired to write and record English-language dialogue for that release.<sup>[16](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0108500/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[17](https://www.imdb.com/Title/tt0108500/)</sup>

In 1994 the American producer and screenwriter John Hughes bought the remake rights and invited Poiré and Clavier to Chicago to work on the Hollywood version's screenplay.<sup>[6](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)</sup> The result, *Just Visiting* (2001), was directed by Poiré with Reno and Clavier reprising their roles as Count Thibault and André, joined by [Christina Applegate](https://www.edgepedia.org/christina-applegate), Tara Reid, and Matt Ross; the story moves the action to Chicago. It grossed $4.8 million in the United States and received a Metascore of 38, with critics' consensus calling it a middling effort inferior to the original.<sup>[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/just_visiting)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[18](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/just-visiting/)</sup> In France the film, released as *Les Visiteurs en Amérique*, drew 1.2 million spectators.<sup>[19](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700474.html)</sup>

## Legacy

The film's standing in French popular cinema rests on its audience numbers and its afterlife in quotations and television reruns. Its first free-to-air broadcast, on France 3 in April 1996, drew 11.3 million viewers, and the film has since accumulated thirteen prime-time broadcasts on French channels.<sup>[21](https://www.lefilmfrancais.com/document/docs/LEFILMFRANCAIS_3910.pdf)</sup> *Le Monde* places it among the works carrying the comic tradition of the Splendid troupe, the Paris theater collective from which Clavier emerged, and the CNC's all-time admissions ranking lists it thirteenth among films released in France.<sup>[22](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/07/25/les-bronzes-font-des-petits_3453682_3246.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[23](https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/static/14/comaffcult/CNC_Bilan%202015.pdf)</sup>

## References

1. [The Visitors, Gaumont official film page](https://www.gaumont.com/en/movie/the-visitors)
2. [Les Visiteurs, fiche technique, Jean-Marie Poiré official site](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/les-visiteurs/)
3. [LES VISITEURS, fiche oeuvre, CNC Visas et Classification](https://www.cnc.fr/professionnels/visas-et-classification/80124)
4. [Anecdotes du film Les Visiteurs, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/secrets-tournage/)
5. [Les visiteurs, Académie des César](https://www.academie-cinema.org/films/les-visiteurs/-30922/)
6. [Réalisateur, Jean-Marie Poiré official site](https://www.jeanmariepoire.com/realisateur/)
7. [Just Visiting, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/just_visiting)
8. [Les Visiteurs review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/les-visiteurs)
9. [Les Visiteurs, film 1993, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm%3D5241.html)
10. [Les visiteurs : 3 choses à savoir sur le film avec Christian Clavier, Le Claireur Fnac](https://leclaireur.fnac.com/article/609562-les-visiteurs-3-choses-a-savoir-sur-le-film-avec-christian-clavier/)
11. [Cinéma : Le triomphe des "Visiteurs", Le Monde, 2 July 1993](https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1993/07/02/cinema-le-triomphe-des-visiteurs_3945739_1819218.html)
12. [Les visiteurs : box-office du film en France (CNC data)](https://voyage-en-liberte.fr/boxoffice/Visiteurs.php)
13. [Rapport du Sénat, session 1994-1995](https://www.senat.fr/rap/1994-1995/i1994_1995_0080_02.pdf)
14. [Critiques presse pour le film Les Visiteurs, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-5241/critiques/presse/)
15. [Les Visiteurs (1993), évaluations, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/fr/title/tt0108500/ratings/)
16. [The Visitors (1993), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0108500/)
17. [The Visitors (1993), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/Title/tt0108500/)
18. [Just Visiting, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/just-visiting/)
19. [Les Visiteurs en Amérique : qu'en pensait la presse US ?, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle%3D18700474.html)
20. [Critiques presse pour le film Les Visiteurs : La Révolution, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-221713/critiques/presse/)
21. [Audiences télévision, Le Film Français](https://www.lefilmfrancais.com/document/docs/LEFILMFRANCAIS_3910.pdf)
22. [« Les Bronzés » : retour sur un film culte, Le Monde, 25 July 2013](https://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2013/07/25/les-bronzes-font-des-petits_3453682_3246.html)
23. [CNC Bilan 2015, Assemblée nationale](https://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/static/14/comaffcult/CNC_Bilan%202015.pdf)
24. [Les Visiteurs La Revolution Dossier De Presse Francais.pdf, medias.unifrance.org](https://medias.unifrance.org/medias/55/109/159031/presse/les-visiteurs-la-revolution-dossier-de-presse-francais.pdf)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Science fiction and fantasy films (individual works) › Science fiction and fantasy films of the 1990s › Released 1990 to 1995*

*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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